Perfecting the Art of Nursing
by boutondor
Summary: Imagine Lisbon nursing Jane back to health? Romantic? Right. It's Lisbon! and Jane! Help Chile fic for Tromana. A/U after 'Black Gold and Red Blood' 2x06. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes:** This fic is for tromana who won my help_chile offer at LiveJournal. The offer consisted of a 2,000+ word fic. This is going to be a 2,000++++ fic ;) -- I've already written 2,500 words and I've only just started it. This is just the prologue. I hope to update this weekly.

**~*~*~*~**

_**Prologue**_

**~*~*~*~**

It all started with a bucket of water. Or rather, where it landed, which was, in this case, on Senior Agent Lisbon. Needless to say, Jane was acutely aware that the event had angered Lisbon, and this anger prevailed for many days. Thus, he tried to make amends by any means he could, and he had an inkling that Lisbon was milking it.

That Thursday afternoon, Jane had gone down to the basement to get the Griffith file. He hadn't been happy with the task, but he had still felt guilty about the whole 'bucket of water' incident. So he had agreed to go. Unfortunately for him, the file was in a box on one of the higher shelves. He wasn't big on heights, but that hadn't made Lisbon change her mind. She was determined to get the Griffith file and she wanted Jane to go get it.

So, at 3:14pm, Patrick Jane could be found in the archives room in the basement, rummaging through old files, standing on a not-so-stable ladder.

At 3:19pm, Patrick Jane could be found lying on the concrete floor, skull cracked, blood slowly pouring out of it.

At 3:23pm, Senior Agent Sam Bosco went to the basement to get a case file that might be related to the case he was working on. He never got the file. At 3:24pm, Agent Bosco called 911, desperate to have paramedics arrive on time.

At 3:31pm, Cho barged into Agent Lisbon's office, distress obvious on his face.

At 3:32pm, Agent Lisbon was sitting in an ambulance, holding Patrick Jane's hand.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

**~o~**

Jane woke up with a massive headache. He opened his eyes to be greeted by the sight of a sleeping Teresa Lisbon in what appeared to be a very uncomfortable position. He frowned as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings. He realized he was in a hospital room, and then also realized that he had a huge bandage around his head and a cast on his left leg.

A nurse came in and smiled at Jane. "Good morning, Mr. Jane," she whispered softly, obviously trying not to wake Lisbon. "It's good to see you conscious. My name's Serena. How are you feeling?"

"Like my head's cracked open."

"Funny you say that," she answered just as cheerfully. "That's exactly what happened. Are you in pain?"

"Yes," he said, annoyed. "My head is killing me."

She nodded and clicked on a small button part of the IV set up. "This might help things a bit. I'm afraid the headache will stick for the next few days."

"What happened?"

"You fell from several feet high to a concrete floor. You broke your leg and hit your head on the concrete. You suffered from cerebral hemorrhage and underwent surgery. It was touch and go for a while, but we did some scans yesterday and you seem to be healing well."

He nodded and looked at Lisbon. She was wearing the same clothes as she was on Thursday. "What day is it?" he asked the nurse.

"Sunday." She looked in the direction he was looking. "She's been here since you were brought to this room on Friday. The head nurse tried to make her leave, but she started babbling about being a cop and the CBI, and we all knew it was less trouble to let her stay."

Jane smiled. That was his Lisbon.

"Do you want me to wake her up?" the nurse asked him.

Jane tried to shake his head, but realized that it made his headache worse. "No, let her sleep. She's grumpy when she doesn't get enough sleep."

"She asked to be woken up the second you did," she told him.

"No," Jane insisted. "Don't worry, I'll take the blame."

"Okay." The nurse shrugged. "The doctor's going to come see you in a few minutes. Just press the green button on your left in case you need anything," she said before walking out.

Jane turned his attention back to Lisbon. She wasn't sleeping as peacefully as he would have hoped. Her eyebrows were frowning and her mouth winced every fifteen seconds or so. Ten minutes later, she jolted awake, looking edgy until she realized where she was. She relaxed then and looked in his direction. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then she smiled as she saw that he was awake.

"Hi," he said gently to her.

"Hi," she said just as softly. "How long have you been awake?"

"About fifteen minutes. How are you feeling?"

She chuckled. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"I'm fine." He shrugged. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"Getting that Griffith file for you." He looked at her pointedly as he spoke, teasing her for sending him to the basement in the first place. Instead of pretending to be miffed, or the likes, like he expected, she blushed a deep red and looked down. He didn't address her reaction, but stored it to be examined later. "I remember going through a bunch of boxes. I was trying to find the 'G's files."

She nodded. "Well, you fell down from the ladder. Fortunately, Bosco went to the basement, probably a few minutes after you fell, and called the paramedics. If it weren't for Bosco..." she trailed off.

"Ah, man," Jane whined. "I owe Bosco my life?"

Lisbon nodded.

"He is so going to remind me every chance he gets," he continued. "Couldn't you have found me instead?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Jane frowned a bit. This was the second time Lisbon was having an unexpected and strange reaction. He wasn't able to address the matter, however, as the doctor walked in.

"Mr. Jane, good to see you're awake." She smiled at Jane and then turned to Lisbon. "I see you're awake as well Agent Lisbon. How did you sleep?"

Lisbon smiled tightly, but didn't answer.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Jane?"

"Aside from the mind-splitting headache and being stuck in a hospital, I'm fine and dandy," he replied with a note of sarcasm.

"The headache will subside with time. We're going to do more x-rays soon," the doctor told Jane as she examined his pupils. "But yesterday's scans showed that you were healing very well. I expect that you can leave this hospital in a week's time."

"No chance of leaving earlier than that?"

The doctor smiled at him. "You suffered a severe brain injury. You almost died. You need time to recuperate."

"I can recuperate just as well outside this hospital as inside."

"We need to monitor your healing progress," the doctor explained.

He opened his mouth to retort, but Lisbon intervened. "Jane," she simply said, but that was enough to keep him quiet.

He hated hospitals.

**

* * *

**

"Good morning, Mr. Jane," Dr. Langley said cheerfully, waking Jane up. When he opened his eyes, Jane saw Lisbon next to the doctor, looking at him awkwardly.

"What's so good about this morning?" Jane asked crankily. He had been in the hospital for almost two weeks. He was sick of lying in bed, watching boring television.

"Well, today's the day I'm discharging you."

Jane smiled for the first time since his accident. "Finally."

"Now, you'll have to be careful. You need to spend most of your days in bed. I can't emphasize enough how severe your head injury was. Nevertheless, it's still not a bad idea that you walk around the room a few times a day to exercise your legs. Nothing strenuous. It's also preferable that you avoid stairs. Agent Lisbon has assured me that you'll be well taken care of."

Jane smiled tentatively. "I'm going to stay at the CBI?"

"No," Lisbon answered right away. "Minelli doesn't want you within 2 miles of the CBI. You're staying with me."

Jane shook his head. No way was he going to be staying with Lisbon. Not for an extended period of time, anyway. "That's not necessary. I'll stay at my apartment."

"Jane..." Lisbon began to protest.

Dr. Langley stepped in. "I'm afraid I must insist, Mr. Jane. I can only discharge you under someone's care. Either you go with Agent Lisbon or you're staying in the hospital for the next three weeks."

"Three weeks?"

"We'll check your progress every week, but I know it's going to take at least three weeks for you to be recovered enough for you to stay on your own."

"Fine. Agent Lisbon's house it is then."

**

* * *

**

Jane winced as he stood in Lisbon's living room, looking at her couch. "You know, Lisbon," he said to the woman carrying a small duffle bag, "I don't think this couch is going to do it."

Lisbon walked around him to reach the stairs that lead

to the first floor. "You're not sleeping on the couch," Lisbon told him as she walked up the stairs. She didn't wait for him to follow her. When she reached her bedroom, she dropped the bag on the floor. She unzipped and began to remove the various clothing and articles, putting them in the drawers of the two bedside tables. By the time she was through, Jane had painfully managed to get to the bedroom.

"You could have helped," he complained.

"Well, you're going to be stuck in bed for three weeks; you can use the exercise."

"You don't have a TV in here. This is going to be extremely boring," he complained.

"I don't care. Get in bed. I promised the doctor you would be resting. Now get in bed and stop whining."

He took his shoes off and laid on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling and mused, "I can't even make tea in here..."

Lisbon sighed loudly and left the bedroom. Ten minutes later, she came back with several things. "Here," she said as she set the things on her low dresser. "You've got a kettle; you can take water from the bathroom. There are tea bags right next to the kettle, here you've got a thermos with milk in it and finally, a cup _with_ the saucer."

"No cookies?"

She glared at him. "No cookies."

Jane continued to look grouchy, but was inwardly smiling. She was so sweet to get into all the trouble for him. "So where are you going to sleep?" he asked suggestively.

"Couch."

"I can't put you out. There's enough room here."

"I'll sleep on the couch," she asserted.

"What about my crutches?"

"What about them?"

"I left them downstairs. I'll need them to go to the bathroom."

Lisbon sighed loudly and left the bedroom. A minute later, she came back with Jane's crutches. "Here you go," she said, putting the crutches against the wall next to the bed. "I'm going to work now. Call me only if there's a real emergency."

"Will do," he smiled at her and she knew her definition of 'real emergency' was very different from his.

**~o~**

**Author's Notes:** The response to the prologue has been overwhelming. Thank you so much. I just hope I live up to your expectations. I forgot to mention that this is a case-fic, by Tromana's request/preference. It's my first one, but I've thought about it for a long time and have worked out how it will unfold.

Special thanks to Vermontgirl61 and dogeatdog, anonymous reviewers to whom I could not respond personally . Thank you to fading_ripples at LJ for beta-reading this during her holiday. She's too awesome.

Finally, sorry for the late update, but like I just mentioned, my beta reader was on holiday and I just got this back edited today.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

**~o~**

Lisbon walked down the beach where her team was gathered around a teenage boy's body. "What do we have here?" she asked them once she reached them.

"17 year old male. Name is Daniel Mansfield. Local boy, " Cho told her. "He and his friends were having a sort of party. At around 10pm last night, he drank soda from a can and dropped dead. Looks like poison."

"Soda?" she asked, unconvinced.

"The kids lead an alcohol-free and drug-free lifestyle," Cho explained.

Lisbon's eyes widened. "Okay. They're definitely not like the kids I went to high school with."

"The local police took statements from all the kids that were here last night," Rigsby said.

Lisbon nodded. "Have you guys talked to the parents yet?"

"No. " Rigsby shook his head. "We were waiting for you."

"Okay, let's go then."

"How's Jane?" Van Pelt asked.

"He's fine. Probably going through my stuff as we speak. You and Rigsby go to the sheriff's office and start going through the kids' statements. See if anything's out of the ordinary. Cho and I will talk to the parents."

"Will do, Boss," Rigsby said.

* * *

Jane looked around the room, maneuvering the crutches as he perused through her bookshelf. The top shelf had knick knacks that she probably never used. The other shelves had various selections of books, from beach novels to history books. He continued his exploration, moving on to the big dresser on the left of the bed. There was a jewelry box on top and he rummaged through it. The box was far from full, but the jewelry that was in there was all elegant, simple and tasteful. Just like his Lisbon. He closed the box and picked up a moisturizer bottle. He poured a little of it on his hand and smelled it. Cinnamon. He smiled.

* * *

"Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield, I am very sorry for your loss. I just need to ask you a few questions."

"Of course, please sit down," Mrs. Mansfield told Cho and Lisbon.

"I understand that Daniel was partying with his friends last night."

"Yes," Mrs. Mansfield answered. "Dan and his friends liked to hang out at the beach."

"How many times did he do this?"

"Almost every Friday night and sometimes Saturday when he didn't have a date."

"Does he have a steady girlfriend?" Lisbon asked.

"He used to," Mr. Mansfield answered this time. "They broke up about two months ago."

"Name?"

"Amanda Walker. They're still friends though. They were," Mr. Mansfield corrected himself. "They were still friends."

"Was he dating anyone in particular lately?"

Mrs. Mansfield shook her head. "Not anyone I can think of. He's been out with Cindy Taylor a couple of times, but it wasn't anything special."

"Was he hanging out with the same people?"

"Yes," Mrs. Mansfield said. "Pretty much always the same people. You can talk to Jeffrey. They always went to the beach together."

"Who's Jeffrey?"

"Jeffrey Whitman. His cousin. My sister's son. They live just three houses down, number 286," Mrs. Mansfield answered.

Lisbon nodded. "Has Dan been acting differently lately?"

"Different how?" Mrs. Mansfield asked.

"Mood change, edgy, guilty, angry, anything like that?"

Mr. Mansfield shook his head. "No. He's been regular Dan."

"So nothing out of the ordinary then?"

"You have to understand something," Mrs. Mansfield said tearfully. "Dan was a good boy. He didn't do drugs, or drink alcohol or had sex. He was first in his class, he was on the basketball team, he went to church every Sunday, and participated in bible study on Wednesdays. Dan was a good boy. His friends are good kids. They would never do something so horrible. No one had a reason to kill Dan."

"We'll do everything we can to find out the truth," Lisbon said compassionately. She got up from the couch. "We'll most likely have follow-up questions," she told the Mansfields, "but that's it for now. Thank you for your help."

She and Cho shook the Mansfields' hand and left the house.

"Let's go talk to Jeffrey," Lisbon said. "We'll probably get much more info from him than the parents."

"We'll probably get the same thing. Dan was nice. Everybody loved him. He never did anything wrong. Apparently, that's all the kids' statements."

"This place is weird. So far, all we've been told is how good these kids are; how polite, responsible, caring, etc. they are. They just don't sound like real teenagers to me," Lisbon commented.

"I was in a gang when I was a teenager, so I don't really know what a real teenager is."

Lisbon shrugged as she knocked on the Whitmans' door. A woman in her mid-thirties answered the door. "Mrs. Whitman?" Lisbon asked.

"Yes?" the woman answered, frowning.

Lisbon flashed her badge. "We're with the CBI. This is Agent Cho," she said, indicating Cho, "and I'm Agent Lisbon. Would it be possible to talk to Jeffrey for a moment about his cousin's death?"

"Oh, of course." The woman stepped aJoshe and opened the door to let them in. "Jeffrey was just in the shower, but he should be down in a minute. This whole thing has been dreadful." She showed them to the kitchen table and Lisbon and Cho took a seat. "Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?"

"No, thank you, Mrs. Whitman," Lisbon answered.

"It's 'miss', Miss Whitman. I'm not married." She laughed uneasily. "It's kind of the reason why I'm not at my sister's right now. The woman hates me." Miss Whitman was nervously busying herself, fixing a cup of tea as she spoke. "See, I got pregnant when I was 17 and I refused to marry Jeffrey's father. My sister thought I was a disgrace. Still thinks so, actually." She sat at the table opposite Cho and Lisbon. "Well, I don't regret it. Best decision I ever made. Jeffrey's father is somewhere in L.A., trying to 'make it' as a singer."

Lisbon smiled politely. Miss Whitman was certainly very different from her sister. She was a chatterbox.

"He's a terrible singer, so that's not gonna happen."

Lisbon nodded and took the opportunity to ask a question when Miss Whitman paused. "How close were Jeffrey and his cousin?"

"Oh, very close." Miss Whitman nodded heartily. "They were always together. Of course, my sister hated it, but Dan and Jeffrey wouldn't give each other up. They're only four months apart and have been following each other since pre-school. Of course, my sister was proper and married when SHE got pregnant."

"So you knew Dan well?"

"Of course! He didn't come here much, though. I think my sister didn't like it, so he and Jeffrey hung out at his house much more."

"Jeffrey was Dan's best friend then? If Dan had a secret, Jeffrey would know?"

Miss Whitman nodded. "He would."

"Mom, I'm starving," a young voice said from behind them. "Who are you?" he asked Cho and Lisbon when they turned around to look at him.

"Honey, these are agents with the CBI. They want to ask you a few questions about poor Dan."

Jeffrey nodded and sat down next to his mother. He looked at Cho and Lisbon, wide-eyed and silent. He was definitely different from his mother.

"Jeffrey," Lisbon began, "I know this is very difficult for you, but we need to ask you a few questions so we can find out what happened to Dan."

Jeffrey solemnly nodded. "I understand."

"Your mom just told us that you and Dan were close, best friends. Is that true?"

"Yes."

Lisbon nodded. It was going to be much more difficult to get information out of Jeffrey Whitman than his mother. "And you were there last night, when it happened?"

Jeffrey nodded. The boy looked in shock.

"Could you tell us what happened?" Lisbon asked as gently as she could.

"Well, we were all just sitting around this fire. Um, we were just talking and joking around."

"Were you drinking anything?"

"Yes, we had soda mostly."

"No alcohol or drugs?" Lisbon asked him.

Jeffrey shook his head. "No. None of us do that. We have a future ahead of us. We don't want to screw it up."

Lisbon nodded. "So you were all sitting around the fire, talking, then what happened?"

"I don't know. Someone, I don't remember who, it might have been Josh, handed a coke to Dan. Dan started drinking it and like 5 seconds later, he started choking and shaking and fell on the ground, dead. It was horrible."

"Who called 911?"

Jeffrey's face crunched as he thought about it. "Amanda, I think. Yes, it was Amanda."

"Can you remember anything unusual that happened last night? Anything at all?"

Jeffrey shook his head. "No. It was a regular Friday night."

"Had Jeffrey confided anything significant to you? Was there anything out of the ordinary in his life?"

"No, apart from the fact that he broke up with Amanda about two months ago."

"How long had they been going out?"

"Almost two years." Jeffrey shrugged.

"Who broke with who?"

"Amanda broke up with him. He seemed pretty okay with it. He dated a few girls since the break-up. He seemed all right."

"Did he have sexual relations with any of the girls he dated?"

"No."

"What about Amanda?"

"No."

"Really?" Cho chimed in. "That's a bit hard to believe. Teenagers dating for almost two years and no sex?"

"It wasn't like that," Jeffrey said. "It's not like you see in the movies or on TV. Jeffrey and Amanda really cared about each other, but they believe in abstinence. They didn't do that kind of thing."

Lisbon sighed imperceptibly. They weren't going to get much out of Jeffrey Whitman. They needed to interrogate Amanda Walker.

**~o~**

**Author's Notes: **

I sincerely apologise for not updating sooner. I kind of got stuck on one scene. Oh, and I moved to a different country (during the volcano ash problem), which involved finding a room, packing, crazy travelling and unpacking. I really hope I'll be able to update this faster from now on.

You guys are the best. Really, you are. I am absolutely overwhelmed by such positive response. Not only do your reviews make me grin like an idiot for _days_, you also inspire me to write this as best as I can. I really hope I won't let you down. Special thanks to anonymous reviewer dogeatdog, whom I could not reply to individually.

Thanks to fading_ripples for the editing and never-ending support.

One last thing I forgot to mention: this is an A/U after 'Black Gold and Red Blood' (2x06).


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

**~o~**

"Dig up everything you can on the Mansfields and Miss Whitman," Lisbon told Rigsby over the phone, handing the keys to Cho. "Did you find anything in the kids' statements?"

"No," Rigsby answered. "They could have easily given a joint statement. They all said the exact same thing. It's too coherent. Something's definitely wrong with these statements, but we're not going to find anything until we talk to them."

Lisbon sighed as she got in the car and put her seatbelt on. She could feel another tension headache coming. "We're on our way to talk to the ex-girlfriend. Hopefully, we'll be able to get more out of her than what we got out of Jeffrey Whitman."

"Too bad Jane's not around," Rigsby commented. "This is exactly his kind of case."

"We can solve this without him," Lisbon said firmly. "He needs rest. If he calls, not one word on the case, okay?"

"Okay, boss."

"He's right," Lisbon said to Cho after hanging up. "This is exactly Jane's kind of case."

"He could help out a bit without leaving the bed," Cho suggested.

"No," Lisbon said firmly. "No work for him. He needs to rest. Remember the last time he was injured and worked anyway? That's not gonna happen again. Besides, we would need him in the field, talking to the kids. Teens tend to lie so much. They think they're hiding deep, dark secrets when their lives are just like any other kid's. Jane's wouldn't be that useful from the case files anyway."

"Your call," Cho said as he pulled up in front of Amanda Walker's house. They walked to the front door and before Lisbon had a chance to knock on the door, it opened.

"You must be the police," a woman said to them.

"We're from the CBI, ma'am. I'm Agent Lisbon and this is Agent Cho," Lisbon told her. "We'd like a word with Amanda."

"Oh, I understand, but could you please come at another time?" She looked pleadingly at Lisbon and Cho. "Amanda's really upset and she's been crying all day. She and Dan were very close."

Lisbon looked at her watch. It was past 5 o'clock. It meant that if they left now, they would be in Sacramento at 7 o'clock, which wasn't a bad plan. She preferred not leaving Jane alone too long. At this point, they might as well wait another day to talk to Amanda. "We can come by tomorrow if that's more convenient with you."

"Oh, but tomorrow's Sunday," Mrs. Walker said.

Cho and Lisbon looked at each other. "So?" Lisbon asked.

"Well, we have church tomorrow, then there's the Sunday luncheon in the town hall. Everyone is going. You won't be able to talk to anyone."

Lisbon took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. She hated it when people didn't realize that they were doing a murder investigation. She thought about it for a few seconds and then forced a smile. "That's all right, Mrs. Walker. We'll stop by on Monday morning."

Mrs. Walker smiled appreciatively. "Thank you so much, Agent Lisbon. We'll see you Monday," she said before closing the door.

"Are you sure about not questioning the girl until on Monday, boss?" Cho asked as they got in the car.

"Forensics won't give us test results on the soda can until late Monday at the earliest. There isn't much more we can do before Monday" Lisbon explained as Cho drove off.

Lisbon's phone rang and she rolled her eyes when she heard the voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey, Lisbon."

"Is there an emergency?" she asked immediately, even though she knew there wasn't.

"Yes. I'm bored."

Lisbon sighed. "That's not an emergency."

"It is. I'm on the verge of taking a screwdriver and jamming it in my eye."

"There aren't any screwdrivers in my bedroom, Jane."

"How's the case going?"

"It's going," she deadpanned. She would not encourage him in any way to get involved with this case.

"When are you getting home? I'm hungry."

Lisbon froze for a moment. She had been so stupid. She had completely forgotten about food for Jane. "I'll take care of it," she said and hung up. She dialed again and Van Pelt picked up.

"Hey, we couldn't talk to Amanda because she's too upset," Lisbon told Van Pelt. "The entire town is going to going to church and all that tomorrow, so there isn't much investigating we can do. You and Rigsby can go home. We'll pick things up on Monday."

"All right," Van Pelt said.

"Do you mind doing me a favor?"

"Sure, boss," Van Pelt said enthusiastically.

"Could you pick up some food, and stop by my place to give it to Jane? He's in my bedroom on the first floor. You'll find a copy of my house keys in the third drawer on the left."

"Okay. What should I get?"

"I don't know. Just get something simple like chicken fried rice."

"Okay, boss."

"Thanks, Van Pelt," Lisbon said gratefully. Crisis averted. There was a reason why she never considered nursing as a profession. She sucked at it. Even with her brothers. She would always forget to bring them that glass of water they asked for or buy the Advil. She was a terrible nurse. She would have never taken Jane in if she hadn't thought that she was basically his only option. She hadn't wanted to burden the others with him. Besides, it was _her fault_ that he had been injured in the first place. She just needed to be better at taking care of him.

"No problem. See you Monday," Van Pelt said before they both hung up.

"Jane's in your bed?" Cho asked.

"He's recovering," Lisbon explained, hiding any embarrassment she was feeling. What was the big deal with Jane sleeping in her bed? She wasn't sleeping there as well. ''He needs to be in a proper bed."

"Of course."

* * *

Van Pelt opened the door. She felt weird going to her boss's house, especially since she wasn't even there. She felt like she was trespassing even if she was here at her boss's request. Trying to look around as little as possible, she went into the kitchen to grab a fork and some paper towels. She also filled a glass with water. She silently walked up the stairs, still feeling like a criminal. When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw the bathroom on her right and then there was a door slightly ajar on her left. That was probably Lisbon's bedroom. She gently knocked on the door.

"Lisbon?" Jane said from the other side of the door.

Van Pelt pushed the door open and saw Jane lying in bed, a moisturizer bottle in hand. She smiled shyly at him. "No, it's me," she said. "Lisbon's on her way back, but she thought you might be getting hungry."

Jane smiled, happy that Lisbon had disrupted one of her team members for him. "That's not a very impressive deduction as I told her I was hungry," he pointed out to Van Pelt.

"Is chicken fried rice okay?" Van Pelt asked him, ignoring his jab at her boss.

"That's fine," Jane answered distractingly. His attention was focused on the moisturizer bottle he held in his hand. He held it out to Van Pelt telling her, "Smell this."

Van Pelt put the food on the nightstand next to Jane and took the bottle, smelling it. "Smells good." She handed the bottle back to him, clearly unimpressed by the smell.

Jane smiled, taking another whiff of the lotion. "It smells like Lisbon."

Van Pelt shrugged. "I guess."

"It's like she's in the room."

Van Pelt rolled her eyes, obviously not finding the discovery of the lotion as marvelous as Jane had. ''We're in _Lisbon_'s room, Jane. It's normal that it smells like her, '' she deadpanned. '' I've to go. I'll come visit you sometime this week. Hope you recover fast," she told him before walking out.

Jane peeked a look at the food with disinterest. Dinner at Lisbon's wasn't as appealing without Lisbon actually being there.

* * *

An hour after Van Pelt had gone, Jane heard the front door again and he knew it was Lisbon. He heard her footsteps, utensils rattling, drawers and cupboards opening and closing. After about 10 minutes, she finally opened the bedroom door. She had plates, utensils and glasses in hand. She also had a huge plastic bag full of food from the smell of it.

"Are you still hungry?" she asked him.

Jane nodded. "The rice got cold quickly, and now it doesn't taste good," he told her, not mentioning that he hadn't really touched it.

Lisbon put everything on one of the dressers, next to the kettle. She went to her armoire and got a blanket out which she laid on the bed next to Jane. She put the food on top of the blanket and sat at the foot of the bed, facing Jane. "What do you want? I've got pad thai, some spring rolls, general tsao chicken, shrimp alfredo, lasagna, and some salad."

"You can have the pad thai; I'll take the shrimp alfredo."

She smiled, happy to get her favorite, as she poured the pasta on a plate with a breadstick and handed it to him. "You can have the leftovers for lunch on Monday. I'll bring the microwave and the cooler in the room tomorrow so you don't have to go downstairs," she explained as she started digging into her pad thai.

"You know it would all have been much simpler if I was at the CBI."

"I told you Minelli doesn't want to see you there."

"Minelli's the kind of man who doesn't really know what he wants," Jane said confidently.

Lisbon rolled her eyes, unimpressed by Jane's cockiness. "Oh, and _you_ know what he wants?"

"He wants the case to be solved. If I stayed at the CBI, I could work tomorrow while resting."

"Well, that would be pointless since we're not working tomorrow."

Jane smiled. He was going to have Lisbon's company the next day. "Don't you have a murder to investigate?"

"Everyone's going to church tomorrow and apparently a murder investigation cannot get in the way of mass." She couldn't keep the irritation out of her voice. Despite being grateful that she would be able to watch over Jane tomorrow, Lisbon wasn't too happy with Mrs. Walker. She could never understand how people didn't realize the importance of a murder investigation. She blamed CSI. They made it sound that everything could be solved with DNA and no actual investigation was required. "I figured it would be easier for everyone if we just picked things up on Monday," she explained to Jane.

"So the victim's from a religious family, huh?"

Lisbon pointed her chopsticks at him. "No case investigation. You rest. You read novels, play Sudoku and drink tea."

"But it's boring," he whined. Really, the man was worse than a four year-old.

"Tough," she said, unmoved.

He smiled at her as he watched her eat. She was so adorable when she ate. Despite almost dying, being in a cast, and being forced to bed rest for the next three weeks, he could see some positive side to the whole situation. Being in Lisbon's home, on Lisbon's bed, wasn't a horrible thing. Having Lisbon spending have off-work time with him was definitely an added bonus. He looked quickly at his food when she caught him.

She eyed him suspiciously and asked him, "So, have you gone through all of my stuff today?"

"Oh, no. I only looked on the top of your dresser there, '' Jane answered, gesturing to the dresser on the left. He reached for the moisturizer bottle. "I found this. Lovely smell."

Lisbon rolled her eyes.

"Only that?" she asked, genuinely surprised.

"I'm pacing myself. I'm here for three weeks after all."

She pretended to admonish him, but they both knew she was highly amused.

**~o~**

**Author's Notes:** Thank you so much for the support. A special thank you to Amelie, whom I could not reply to personally. I am very happy you're enjoying this fic :)

I promise you'll get more Jane and more Jane/Lisbon as the story progresses. I just need to set the case first and unfortunately Jane couldn't be involved for that. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've already got an idea for a sequel and I really want to write it so I might prioritise this fic over others now ;)


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

**~o~**

The next day, Jane was still lying on Lisbon's bed, but this time, Lisbon was sitting next to him, a bowl of popcorn on her lap and eyes glued to her laptop. Jane, on the other hand, found watching Lisbon far more interesting than watching Die Hard. He was discreet, of course. If anyone was looking at him, they would think that he was as engrossed by the movie as Lisbon was. He was, however, observing her from the corner of his eye.

It was fascinating to watch her move in her home. He felt closer to the real Lisbon than what he had seen the last couple of years. Underneath the awkwardness of having him in her home and in her bed, Lisbon displayed a mannerism of ease and comfort. He had spent the better part of the morning watching her go in and out of the bedroom, grabbing things or putting some in their place, tidying everything up. Her mind had been elsewhere, he wasn't sure what she had been thinking about, and she had been half-paying attention to what she was doing. Once in a while, she had stopped what she had been doing to smile awkwardly at him and ask if he needed anything. Every time he had replied by saying that he had everything he needed.

Now, Lisbon was looking at the screen, enraptured in the film as if it were the first time she was watching it. It had obviously been a long time since she had seen it. Jane had an inkling that Lisbon hadn't spent much time watching movies in a long time. He wondered what she normally did on weekends. Work, most likely. She only looked up from the laptop screen when the front door bell rang. Frowning, obviously wondering who could be at the door, she left the room and went downstairs. A minute later, Jane could hear a male voice and Lisbon's own surprised one. Awkwardly, he got up from the bed and walked out of the bedroom as quietly as he could with a cast leg. The voice was Bosco's. Jane, unfortunately couldn't make out what they were saying, so he went back to the bed.

* * *

"He's being his usual annoying self then?" Bosco said to Lisbon.

"I think I would be worried if he wasn't," she answered back. There was a short moment of silence before Lisbon added, in a soft tone, "with all the commotion, I never thanked you for what you did." She looked Bosco directly in the eye. "You saved his life. Thank you," she told him, her gratitude evident in her voice.

"You don't have to." Bosco said with a hint of bitterness. "You're not personally responsible for him, you know."

"I just want to make sure he's okay."

Bosco looked at Lisbon, concerned for the woman he had known for so many years. He had hoped he could have saved her, but she was beyond saving. "There's no future to this, Teresa."

Completely understanding his meaning, she nodded in agreement. She wasn't going to fight him on this, not when he was so right. There was one thing, however, that Sam Bosco had overlooked: she never really had any future, or at least Sam's definition of 'future'. "There's no alternative."

"But there is one. Let him be. Or I'll take him on; I'll reign him in. I'm sure he'll accept. I've got the Red John case after all."

Lisbon had never thought of this possibility. She never thought Sam would willingly take Jane on his team. She couldn't help shivering at the thought of the impending disaster. She didn't believe for a second that Bosco would be able to 'reign Jane in'. Nevertheless, Bosco had the Red John case, and access to the case was the reason why Jane had joined the CBI. It was his decision, after all. "If your offer still stands when Jane's recovered, we'll do the transfer if Jane wants to."

Bosco nodded, apparently satisfied. Lisbon wasn't too sure how she felt about it. She knew how difficult it had been for Jane to be excluded from the Red John case. He would definitely appreciate having access to it again. If she was honest though, she was going to miss him. He was a pain in the ass, but he helped close so many cases and he gave a nice balance to her team. On the other hand, Bosco was right: she was getting too close to Jane. The accident was proof enough of that. If it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have made them pay over accidently dropping a bucket of water over her. She would have simply dismissed the incident, and that person wouldn't have fallen off a ladder, cracking their head open and breaking their leg.

Bosco squeezed her arm gently, quietly understanding her inner turmoil - he was going through a similar thing, after all - and stepped outside. She smiled and waved goodbye, watching him get in his car and drive off. With a sigh, she went back upstairs. Jane was waiting for her, lying on the bed, the bowl of popcorn on his lap. "I paused the movie," he told her and she frowned in confusion. Only when Jane elaborated with "Die Hard", did she remember that they were watching a movie when Bosco dropped by. She sat down on her bed and restarted the movie. They watched in silence for a few minutes until Jane asked, "Does he stop by often?"

Lisbon looked at him like a deer caught by headlights. "Who?"

Jane rolled his eyes, disbelieving Lisbon's confusion. "Bosco. He just drops by?"

"Sometimes." She shrugged. "He doesn't live too far from here."

Jane nodded, but didn't say anything. Instead, he appeared to be concentrated on the movie again. Lisbon, however, knew better.

''Don't read anything into it, Jane. Please. ''

''I'm not,'' he retorted, but Lisbon glared at him. ''I'm not, '' he repeated. ''I know Bosco's just a friend. He's married and you've got way too much integrity.''

''Exactly,'' Lisbon confirmed.

They were silent for the rest of the movie.

* * *

"I know this is difficult for you, Amanda, but we have a few questions about Dan and about what happened the night he died." Lisbon was sitting on the armchair in the Walkers living room, Amanda sitting on the sofa with her mother, holding her hand. The teenager nodded and Lisbon proceeded. "Can you tell me, as much as you can remember, what happened that night?"

"We were hanging out at the beach. Everyone was having a good time, talking and dancing. Vinny brought this huge portable sound system," she explained. "Anyway, Dan started fidgeting, like he was seizing or something. Then he just..." she stopped, clearly unable to continue.

"Who was around Dan when it happened?" Lisbon asked with the gentlest voice she could muster.

"Well, everyone, really, except Jennifer and David who were further away, by the water, and Chris, Helen and Nancy who were dancing."

"So who does that leave?"

Amanda looked up, trying to remember the details of that night. "Well, Jeffrey was sitting next to him. Cindy was sitting on the other side of him."

"Where were you?"

"I was sitting next to Jeffrey. We were sitting in a circle."

Lisbon turned the page of her notebook and handed it to Amanda with her pen. "Would you mind drawing where everyone was sitting when it happened?"

Amanda nodded, took the notepad and pen. She drew for a minute and handed the notepad and pen back to Lisbon, who carefully studied the seating chart. Only six people were sitting in that circle, and seemed to have been all fairly close to Dan. "You weren't sitting that far away from Dan, were you? Did you notice anything?"

Amanda shook her head. "I've been thinking about it all weekend, trying to remember any indication that something was wrong, but I can't see anything. Everything was normal; everyone was acting normal. Could it have been an accident?"

"He was poisoned with hydrogen cyanide. It's not an accident."

"It's all so surreal."

"Who gave the soda to Dan?"

"Josh."

Lisbon frowned. This was the first time Amanda was certain of her answer. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure because after it happened, Jeffrey asked Josh what kind of drink he had given Dan."

Lisbon nodded. She would have to ask Jeffrey if he remembered this. It seemed odd that Jaffrey had hesitated about who had given Dan the soda. "I need to ask you a few more questions," Lisbon told Amanda.

Amanda nodded.

"You and Dan had been dating for two years from what I understand."

"Yes. We broke up a couple of months ago."

"Jeffrey said that you were the one who ended things. Is that true?" Amanda nodded and Lisbon went on with her interrogation. "Why did you break up with him? Was he pressuring you to have sex with him or something like that?

Amanda vehemently shook her head. "No. Dan would never do something like that. He respected me too much. Besides, he believed in abstinence. It wasn't anything like that. He wasn't heartbroken when I left him. You see, we had been dating for so long that we hadn't even realized that we weren't really in love anymore."

"There was no resentment between the two of you? "

Amanda shook her head. "No. We were still friends. We were friends before we started dating. We share all the same friends. Our parents are friends. Even though I broke up with him, Dan wasn't angry with me. Ask Jeffrey."

Lisbon nodded, writing a few notes down. She was pretty sure this was as much she would get from Amanda about her relationship with Dan. "Jeffrey was good friends with Dan, wasn't he?"

"Yes, they were inseparable. I always said that when I started dating Dan, I started dating Jeffrey as well."

"It didn't bother you?" Lisbon asked, frowning. Girls this age usually didn't like having a third wheel around all the time.

"No, I like Jeffrey. We always had fun together. Besides, most of the time we hung out with Jeffrey, we also hung out with others like Cindy and Josh."

"So among the kids at the beach, Dan's closest friends were you, Jeffrey, Josh and Cindy, right?"

Amanda nodded.

"Thank you Amanda. That's all I need for now." Lisbon got up and shook Amanda's hand, then her mother's. "I might have follow-up questions," she told them. "I'll keep in touch."

~o~

**Author's Notes:** Sorry for not updating this in ages. I think this will have seven chapters. My goal is to finish it by the end of July. Thanks for all the reviews :) A special thank you to Tiffa to whom I couldn't reply personally.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

**~o~**

This case was one of the worst cases Lisbon's had in a while. It was heading nowhere. She had no evidence. She just couldn't understand how they hadn't found traces of hydrogen cyanide on the soda cans. The poison had been found in Daniel Mansfield's body, but no traces of it had been found in anything he had consumed that night. It didn't make any sense. Of course, this case had to happen just when Jane had an accident and couldn't help them. Maybe this was karma's way of getting back at her for causing Jane's accident. The guilt just wasn't enough. Sighing and attempting to shake the pessimism out of her mind, Lisbon got out of her office and said to her team:

"Rigsby and Cho, go talk to the parents again. I just heard back from forensics. There wasn't any poison on the can or any other can, for that matter. There's obviously something going on that we haven't figured out yet. The parents are a bit on the fanatical side of religion so maybe it had something to do with that. Work them until you have something, anything."

"Okay, boss," Rigsby answered as he and Cho got up from their seats and walked out of the bullpen.

"Boss," Van Pelt said to her. "I talked to the Mansfields. Dan was volunteering at the local hospital 3 days a week. Just got off the phone with the hospital and they have confirmed that Dan could have gotten his hands on hydrogen cyanide."

Lisbon's eyes widened in surprise. "How does a volunteering teenager have access to hydrogen cyanide?"

"They say that officially he didn't, but he easily could have gotten his hands on it. They said that Dan was extremely trustworthy and could never imagine him breaking their trust."

Lisbon sighed. "That doesn't really help us anyway. Why would Dan get the poison if he had no intention of killing himself?"

"Maybe he got it for someone else?" Van Pelt suggested.

Lisbon nodded. "If Dan did, Jeffrey would probably know about it. Keep digging. I'm going to talk to Jeffrey."

~o~

Jane was bored. He didn't want to go through all of Lisbon's things at once. He was here for a while so he wanted to spread it out. He picked up a random book on Lisbon's shelf and laid back down on the bed. He looked through the pages to find signs of Lisbon's reading. Some page corners were dog eared and he found a few coffee stains. It wasn't nearly as fun to look through Lisbon's things when she more or less gave him permission.

Jane grabbed his phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Van Pelt," the agent said when she picked up the phone.

"Good afternoon, Van Pelt. Is Lisbon around?"

"She's gone to interrogate Jeffrey Whitman. Can I help you with anything?"

"Um, what are you guys doing?"

"Working on the case."

"And what is the case about?"

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"I am! I'm lying in bed, Lisbon's by the way, with a cup of tea right here by my side. Now I just need a good story to fall asleep."

Van Pelt rolled her eyes. "Fine." She sighed and gave Jane the case details. "Now we're a bit at a dead end because forensics didn't find any traces of poison on the can," Van Pelt concluded her briefing.

"The _soda_ can?" Jane asked, his tone incredulous.

"Uh, yeah," Van Pelt confirmed, unsure why Jane was so skeptical.

"Check the beach's beer bottles," Jane suggested.

"Why?" She frowned, unsure of where Jane was going.

"The kids weren't drinking soda," Jane explained. "Well, they were, but they were mostly drinking beer. Easy to hide by scattering the bottles among the ones already there."

"I told you those kids don't drink – or take drugs for that matter," Van Pelt argued.

"That's what they want their parents to think. Check the beer bottles. Trust me," Jane said confidently. The kids who denied it the loudest were usually the ones drinking the most.

~o~

Lisbon had stopped by the hospital to confirm everything that Van Pelt had told her. She also asked to see where the hydrogen cyanide was stored. After a bit of pressing, Dr. Simmons, the resident with whom she was speaking, admitted that it had been noticed, about a month earlier, that the hydrogen cyanide was unaccountably low. Dr. Simmons hadn't reported it in order to avoid the black mark on her file – something about being considered for an attending position. Lisbon held her tongue when she found this out, but couldn't help smiling at the thought of what Jane would have said to that. Jane could definitely be a pain during her investigations, but she had to admit that he could also get away with saying things she wished she had the liberty to say. She really started to miss having him around. So she bit her tongue, remaining professional, and simply asked for a copy of the hospital's security footage of the last three months.

After her visit to the hospital, Lisbon drove to the local High School and stood, waiting, in front of a car in the parking lot. Once the owner of the car noticed and recognized her, he stopped in his tracks. She saw him swallowing hard, taking a deep breath, and finally walking toward her.

"Hi Agent Lisbon."

"Hi Jeffrey. I just have a quick question for you."

"Okay," Jeffrey said in a standoff manner. He was clearly uncomfortable by her presence. She filed this information away to explore later.

"Dan used to volunteer at the hospital, right?"

Jeffrey nodded. "Uh, yeah, about three-four times a week. It's for the community hours on his college application."

"Has he ever mentioned taking something from the hospital to give it to someone, a friend or family member?"

Jeffrey shook his head. "Dan would never do that. He really respected Dr. Simmons. He would have never broken her trust like that," Jeffrey said earnestly.

"Thank you, Jeffrey," Lisbon told the teen before walking to her car. She sighed in vexation as she unlocked the car. All leads on this case were heading nowhere. She started to feel the same way her team did: they really could use Jane's help. But she couldn't have him involved, even a little. He wouldn't be able to stop until he was totally engrossed in the case. And he needed rest, _complete_ rest. She shouldn't forget that he had almost died. Her selfishness, the foolish desire to have herself as the centre of his attention for once, had almost cost him his life. She had to remember that. Always. His well-being came first – before cases, and certainly before her misplaced affections. Maybe Bosco was right. She was too close to Jane, and it wasn't doing either of them any good.

"Agent Lisbon," she heard Jeffrey's voice behind her. She turned around to face him.

"What is it, Jeffrey?" she asked him.

Jeffrey looked hesitant. "I'm not sure if this is helpful at all, and it might not mean anything, but any of us could have gotten almost anything from the hospital."

Lisbon frowned, confused. Were all Dan's friends volunteering at the hospital too? "What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, we all visited Dan at the hospital at some point in the last two, three months. The hospital really liked Dan, so they trusted us by extension. We had access to everything Dan had access to. We could have taken whatever we wanted."

Lisbon quickly processed what Jeffrey just told her. In a matter of seconds, she had an action plan in her head. "Right," she said, opening her car door and grabbing her notepad and a pen. She gave them to Jeffrey. "I want you to write everyone that visited Dan at the hospital. Don't lie because I'll know," she warned him.

Jeffrey looked at Lisbon straight in the eyes. "I have no reason to lie to you, Agent Lisbon. I want to know who killed Dan as much as you do, probably more."

**~o~**

**Author's Notes: **I wasn't receiving FFN alerts for ages. I will try to reply to everyone's awesome comments for the last chapter. I sincerely apologise if I don't. I didn't realize there had been so many reviews. Thank you guys so much. Also, sorry for the long delay to update this. New job, friends, life :) BUT it's *almost* finished. I intend to have everything uploaded by the end of July. Thanks for all the support :)


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

**~o~**

Lisbon was in a relatively good mood when she got home that night. They were finally making some headway. Van Pelt had just called her and told her that traces of hydrogen cyanides had been found on a beer bottle collected near the crime scene. They finally had a lucky break. It was good that the forensic team had decided to test everything that had been collected from the crime scene. And now, they might also find incriminating footage of one of the kids on the hospital security cameras.

"Found any trace of poison on the beer bottles?" Jane asked Lisbon when she walked into the bedroom.

Lisbon eyed him. "How do you know about that?" she asked him suspiciously. Suddenly she had a feeling that testing the beer bottles hadn't been the forensic team nor Van Pelt's idea.

Jane gave her his best Cheshire cat grin. "I might have nudged someone in the right direction."

"Well, yes, we did find traces of cyanide on a beer bottle." She wondered if one day Jane would ever, ever, listen to her. She was suddenly reminded of the last time he had listened to her, of the long ambulance ride to the hospital, and thought that him not listening to her might not be such a bad thing. She tried to get rid of those thoughts and focus on the current conversation, asking Jane, "How did you know they drank beer?"

"Think like a teenage child of an over-controlling parent," Jane explained. "Of course the kids were drinking beer."

She suddenly felt a little stupid for believing these teenagers. Jane was right; it had been obvious that they could be lying. To be fair, these kids had a way of presenting themselves as pure angels though. Obviously, one of them really wasn't. "I can't imagine any of these kids killing their friend," Lisbon confessed.

"Well, one of them did. Or the parents did it," Jane suggested. "I bet the parents are smart enough to pull it off."

"Maybe that's why Jeffrey was acting a bit strange when I went to see him today," Lisbon mused.

At that, Jane perked up. "Jeffrey, that's the cousin and best friend, right?"

"Aren't you supposed to be _resting_?" she asked him, suddenly realizing that they were extensively discussing the case.

"I am," Jane protested. "I've got a book, I've got tea and I'm talking to my friends from to time, just for a good distraction."

"You're working on the case, Jane. That's not resting," Lisbon argued. Maybe she sounded like a ten year old, but he did need his rest.

"I'm not really working on it. Van Pelt just told me a bit about it and I simply suggested something to her. I'm not running around interrogating suspects, am I?" He took a deep breath and changed tactics when Lisbon appeared unconvinced. "I'm _bored,_ Lisbon. Can't you let me have just this one, _small_ distraction?" He smiled, trying to win her over with sentimentality.

Lisbon shook her head determinedly. "No. You can't stress yourself over anything. No working on the case. I mean it, Jane. "

His smile disappeared and she could tell that he was getting annoyed with her. Jane was not someone who liked others giving him orders. He usually pretended not to care, but that was because he could always work around it. In this case, however, he was stuck in bed and it was difficult for him to disobey her. She didn't care that he was angry with her. His health was more important. Much more important.

~o~

"Okay," Lisbon said to her team when she walked into the bullpen the next morning. "I don't think you guys understand something, so let me make it clear: Jane almost died two weeks ago. He fractured his skull and nearly bled to death. It took an 8 hour surgery to get him out of the woods. I don't care how well and healthy he appears to be or whatever he says. He _needs_ rest. No one gives him any detail about this case. Maybe Jane doesn't realize that he almost died, but you guys have to. No more talking to Jane. Got it?"

"Got it, boss," all three of them said.

"Good. If anyone talks to him, you'll be front door security." And after that, she stomped off to her office.

~o~

Lisbon was surprised when she found her front door unlocked. She was positive she had locked the door before leaving. She swiftly looked for signs of burglary. None.

"Jane?" she called out, worried that he may have had the whim to go out on his own.

Jeffrey, who was upstairs in Lisbon's room, turned around in surprise at Lisbon's voice. He looked worriedly at Jane, like a deer caught in headlights. "Is that Agent Lisbon?" he asked Jane.

Jane groaned. "She usually doesn't come home this early," he gave as a mean of explanation.

"Are we gonna be in trouble?" He was clearly ready to flee.

"Not you. Just me," Jane reassured him.

Jeffrey frowned. "But you're..." Jeffrey trailed off and gestured anxiously, indicating Jane's broken leg and bandaged head, not really believing that Lisbon's wrath would only be focused on Jane.

"All broken?" Jane finished for him. "That really doesn't matter to Agent Lisbon, believe me."

"What is going on here?" Lisbon asked angrily when she walked into the bedroom, glaring at the teen and the invalid.

"I was just having a chat with my friend Jeffrey," Jane explained sheepishly, pretending to be oblivious to Lisbon's anger.

"No, you are not," she protested, glaring at Jane with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You are working on the case when you're supposed to be resting."

"I am resting! I couldn't be resting more!" Jane protested. "And during my rest, I found out that little Jeffrey has been keeping something from us."

Lisbon turned her attention to Jeffrey and Jeffrey looked at Jane nervously. Jane gave him a reassuring smile. "It's all right, Jeffrey. Agent Lisbon doesn't bite. She's only mean to me."

Lisbon sat on the bed against Jane's leg, facing Jeffrey. "He's right, Jeffrey. You have nothing to worry about."

"When his parents find out..."

"Dan is dead, Jeffrey. His parents won't do anything," Lisbon spoke as gently as possible, trying to reassure him.

"Not Dan's parents. Josh's."

Lisbon frowned, confused. "Josh's? What about Josh?"

"He and Dan were..."

"Were?" Lisbon asked, getting impatient.

"You know..." he said, embarrassed.

"They were sleeping together, Lisbon," Jane helped out Jeffrey.

"Oh," she said and then said it again, when she finally realized what they were saying, "Oh. Well, um, that changes things a bit." She looked at Jeffrey again. "How long were Dan and Josh having sexual relations?"

"A year, or maybe a bit more."

"When did you find out?"

"I always knew. Dan told me about Josh even before they first kissed. He had a massive crush on him, but he felt so guilty."

"Why did he feel guilty?"

"We weren't intended to be with people of the same sex."

"Is that what you think?"

Jeffrey shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I don't know. Dan and Josh really loved each other. Dan just shouldn't have dragged Amanda into it."

"Does Amanda know?" Lisbon asked. "Is that why she broke up with him?"

"No. Amanda broke up with him because he didn't want to sleep with her."

"How do you know?"

"Dan told me."

Lisbon nodded. "All right. I think you better go home now, Jeffrey. Your mother will get worried."

Once Lisbon had accompanied Jeffrey to his car and thanked him for the information, she stomped back upstairs. "Patrick Jane, are you ever gonna listen to me? How can you fully recover if you don't rest properly?"

"Calm down, woman. I was merely talking to a teenage boy," Jane defended himself.

"That is not the point, " she retorted.

"So what's the point, then?"

"You're working, and working isn't resting."

"Listen, I bet someone other than Jeffrey found out about Dan and Josh, and couldn't bear it. It's probably either the girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, or the mother. My money's on the mother."

"Jane…" Lisbon started but was interrupted by her cell ringing. "Lisbon," she said when she answered it.

"Boss, it's Rigsby. We saw something on the hospital security tapes."

"I'm on my way," she said before hanging up. She pointed at Jane. "You, stay here. Don't move and don't call anyone."

~o~

**Author's Notes:** Thank you so much for all the reviews! Particular thank you to dogeatdog to whom I couldn't reply personally. I can't believe how this fic has been popular. I hope you will all like the case resolution. There's one more chapter after this and an epilogue and everything should be posted this week.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

**~o~**

As she drove to the CBI, Lisbon contemplated Bosco's suggestion. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea after all. Jane was getting out of control. She used to be able to somewhat reign him in, but lately, she had lost the feeble control she had over him. And when he did fully listen, it also ended in disaster. Maybe she was too emotionally involved. Perhaps it would be best if Jane worked with Bosco for a while. She doubt edhe would protest much seeing as Bosco had the Red John case.

Maybe.

She would think about it some more. Now, she had to concentrate on the case. It looked like they were finally going to crack it.

~o~

Lisbon, Van Pelt, Cho and Rigsby were all staring at Rigsby's monitor. "We believe that this was sometime after Amanda and Dan broke up," Rigsby explained as the team watched the two teenagers fighting in a medicine supply room. "We're pretty sure she took the cyanide that day. She's the only one of Dan's group of friends to have been in the medicine supply room." He slowed down the tape. "We think it might be right then." He pointed at the monitor.

Lisbon saw Amanda leaning against the shelves where the cyanide was stored. She noticed Amanda's hand moving behind her back as she shouted at Dan, but the image was too low-quality to actually see Amanda take the poison. "This can't be used in court. I can't even use it to get a confession out of her. She's smart enough to know that it'll be considered speculation at best." Lisbon sighed in annoyance. "I can't wait until people start investing in proper security equipment. What's the point of having it if it's not really doing its job?"

"Sorry, boss," Van Pelt said. "At least we know who did it. We'll try to get evidence against her tomorrow."

Lisbon nodded. "Okay. Thanks for calling me. We'll do what we can tomorrow. Go home, guys."

~o~

"So?" Jane asked when Lisbon was back.

"You were wrong; it's not the mother. It's the ex-girlfriend."

Jane frowned. "Why do you look so defeated when you've just closed a case?"

"The tape is too low-quality. It's just speculation. We know she did it, but there's no way it'll be admissible evidence in court," Lisbon explained.

Jane nodded, contemplative. He was lost in thoughts for a few minutes and then shook himself out of it. "Nothing you can do about it tonight. Get your laptop and watch one of those romantic comedies you love, but pretend to hate."

Lisbon couldn't help but smile at that.

~o~

As the credits rolled on, Lisbon glanced at the sleeping Jane next to her. Even in his sleep, he looked exhausted. She wasn't an idiot; she knew he had been racking his brain all day about the case. She sighed. She wished he understood how rest was crucial to his recovery. She softly brushed a finger over some wrinkles. He had aged so much since she had known him. The last few months, especially since the whole Tanner incident, hadn't been kind to him. Losing the Red John case had really crushed him. Perhaps Bosco was right. It would be best for Jane to be assigned to his team, at least temporarily. If things continued to spiral downward like they had the last few months, Lisbon was pretty sure that Jane might wind up in jail again. If he had access to the Red John case, that might be less likely.

It would also alleviate the tension that had developed between her and Bosco ever since she blackmailed him. She didn't blame him for being angry, but neither did she regret her actions. She was angry at Jane, however, for not understanding how much she laid everything on the line for him. If she was truly honest, her making him pay for the whole water bucket incident had a bit of her anger underlying her desire for payback. He didn't deserve almost dying though. Bosco was right; she was too close to him. She always thought having Jane on her team would cost her career one day, but she had never really considered that it might cost his life or hers.

~o~

Rigsby threw a piece of surveillance equipment on the bed. "If Lisbon or Van Pelt find out I did this, you'll have two broken legs, instead of one."

Jane eagerly took the recording device and grinned happily at the other man. "No worries, Rigsby. I will be silent as a grave, even under torture."

"Yeah, yeah," Rigsby said dismissively, not exactly believing Jane. "Not one word to Van Pelt, I mean it."

Jane nodded. "Got it."

~o~

"Hey Cho," Jane called the agent two hours later. "I know where Amanda hid the bottle of cyanide."

~o~

"JANE!" Lisbon yelled as soon as she walked inside the house. She stomped all the way to the bedroom. If they had been in a cartoon, she would have had smoke coming out of both ears. "YOU BUGGED A CONFESSIONAL?"

"Technically, _I_ didn't since I am stuck in this bed."

"I don't even want to know who you convinced to pull a stunt like this. Do you realize how absolutely immoral it is?"

"How about killing an innocent 18 year old kid? That's immoral. Besides, I erased all the recordings. No one's dark secrets will be known."

"_You_'ll know them!"

Jane shrugged. "I know a lot of dark secrets, so what's a few more?" He grinned at her. "So did you find the bottle of cyanide?"

"Yes," Lisbon admitted begrudgingly. "Cho's doing the arrest now."

"Excellent. You'll get an easy confession under Cho's stern glare."

"I gotta get back," she told him, ignoring his last comment. She currently had a very low tolerance for his arrogance.

"Can you please let me listen in on Amanda's confession?"

She rolled her eyes and walked out of the bedroom. Asshole.

~o~

Lisbon and Cho were sitting across the table from Amanda Walker, who was in tears. A recording device was on the table and so was Lisbon's phone.

"We found the remainder of the cyanide buried in your backyard, Amanda. We also have Dr. Simmons who will testify that the cyanide was taken the same day we have you on tape in the hospital medicine supply room. If you confess, the D.A.'s office will be much more lenient, especially since you're only 18 years old."

Amanda took a deep breath and began to speak: "We were together for two years, _two years_. I always thought he had the same values I had. I mean, we did drink a bit, but we were never drunk off our face and none of us has ever taken any drugs. I wouldn't destroy the body God gave me that way. I _respected_ God. Dan said he did, but how could he when he was doing filthy things behind my back, behind God's back? I thought he was a good person. I was wrong. Two months ago, I went to his house. His parents were gone for the weekend so I thought we could hang out a little. Just fool around, not sex or anything," she added quickly.

"Well, he was fooling around, but not with me. With Josh. It was disgusting." She winced at the memory. "I broke up with him right away. He told me that if I told anyone, he and Jeffrey would make sure that my mom finds out that I had gone to third base with him. So I kept quiet. My mom would have killed me. She thought I was pushing it just with French kissing. I figured we would all graduate soon anyway, so it didn't matter. But he started dating Cindy. He was going to fool her, trick her, the way he tricked me. I wasn't going to let that happen. She's my best friend. So when I visited him at the clinic, I took the poison. It was so easy to swap his drink with mine. I didn't want to kill him, but he was going to do with other girls what he had done to me. He was going to do it to his future wife. I just couldn't let it happen."

~o~

"We loved Dan, Agent Lisbon," Mrs. Mansfield said, her voice quivering with sadness. "We believe God loved Dan, no matter how he lived his life and whom he chose to love. We instilled the idea of abstinence and saying no to drugs and alcohol because we wanted Dan to respect the life God had given him. We didn't want him to feel that he had to hide himself from us. That poor girl. She was so misguided."

"Misguided?" Mr. Mansfield spat out. "She killed our son, Maureen!"

"I know. I just hate that it's because of some misguided religious idea that made her commit such an awful thing. This is not what God would have wanted."

Lisbon squeezed Mrs. Mansfield's hand. If only the Mansfields had shown their unconditional acceptance and love for Dan before his death. People needed to know that others cared.

Lisbon cared about Jane and he didn't know it.

~o~

**Author's Notes:** So here you had the last chapter. Next is the epilogue and the end. Hope you enjoyed the case resolution. This was my first case fic ever. I'm just happy it's over :p

Thanks for all your amazing support. Special thanks to Anna who reviewed anonymously. Epilogue will be up as soon as I get it back from my beta.


	9. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

**~o~**

_Some months later_

Holding a box full of clothing and various trinkets, Lisbon waited impatiently for the door in front of her to open. She yearned for the butterflies in her stomach to calm down, but to no avail. Why did she feel like she was about to go through a post-break up confrontation?

When the door finally opened, Patrick Jane's smile greeted her. "Good afternoon, Lisbon."

Not trusting her voice, Lisbon simply gave her signature tight smile and thrust the box towards him.

"What's this?" He asked, knowing full well what the box contained.

"Stuff you left at my house," she replied simply, trying not to engage in conversation. She didn't trust herself to keep things friendly but distant, as she had promised herself to do. She hadn't expected to miss him as much as she had, and even though she had practice in keeping her emotions at bay, they had been worn down lately and she wasn't as much in command of her emotions as she used to be.

Jane nodded as he took the box from Lisbon. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

Lisbon shook her head. She just didn't trust herself to be alone with him at the moment. The separation was still painful. "I better go. Errands to run."

"One cup won't kill you."

He was smiling. She missed that smile. Really missed it. She used to be able to resist it, but seeing it on a daily basis for months weakened her strength. Ultimately, it convinced her to step foot in Jane's apartment for the first time. "Okay."

The apartment was small and minimalist. She wouldn't have expected anything else. He pulled up a chair at the table in the kitchen and turned the kettle on. Lisbon sat down and watched him prepare them both a cup of tea. She found it frustrating how he seemed so at ease with the circumstances while she wished she were anywhere but in this tiny kitchen. His demeanor seemed to show that he didn't miss her as much as she missed him. Lisbon had been right then; this was for the best. Contrary to what her team had supposed, she hadn't done anything to stop the transfer; she had actually encouraged it. She was becoming much too close to Jane and it was getting dangerous for the both of them. Lisbon wasn't going to fall prey to unrequited love. She wasn't going to spend endless years pining over a man who was still in love with his dead wife and on a quest to end someone else's life.

"It's not like we never see each other," Jane commented as he put a mug in front of her.

Lisbon looked at him and tried to analyze him the way he was so good at analyzing others. He seemed so unperturbed by their current circumstances. Granted, the change was good, even for her. She was already feeling some distance between them. It hurt, but it was good nonetheless. Still, she never imagined how little it would bother him. The man who didn't want his couch moved by a fraction of an inch, who wore the same four, five suits and nothing else, and had his tea the exact same way every time, had no problem working with a completely new team.

"Change is good,' Jane noted, sitting down next to her, steering her away from her thoughts. "It's not easy, but it is good in the long run," he continued as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, which wouldn't surprise Lisbon.

"I hate change," Lisbon said dryly, staring at her tea.

"So do I," Jane agreed and Lisbon lifted her head up to meet his gaze. They both smiled. Well, Jane hadn't changed that much after all.

They began drinking their tea in companionable silence, the initial discomfort slowly easing down. Nevertheless, Lisbon couldn't help feel the oddity of the situation. She had never been to his apartment before and them 'hanging out' outside work, especially without the others, had never been part of their relationship. His stay at her house could have torn some of the barriers down, but the guilt she felt over the entire episode prevented it. He had teased her about it, but he really had no idea what it had felt like to see him lying on the concrete floor bleeding from the head. Well, he did know what it felt like, she reminded herself. He had experienced much worse. She had to be grateful that she had seen him hurt, but alive. Nevertheless, she never forgot that it was her fault that he had been there in the first place.

As if guilt was written all over her face – and maybe it was – Jane broke the silence by saying, "It wasn't your fault, you know."

Lisbon shot him a look of confusion, hoping that she had misread the meaning behind his sentence. If it were up to her, the whole accident and subsequent events would never be mentioned again.

"The accident," Jane clarified, crushing Lisbon's hopes that he may have meant something else. "It was just that: an accident. No one's fault, and certainly not yours."

"I know," Lisbon replied, willing for the conversation to be cut short.

Jane tilted his head a little and opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again, changing his mind. He stared at her for a few minutes, pondering over something. She concentrated on drinking her tea, trying not to blush too much under his open scrutiny. He let out a deep breath and said, "The way I see it, it was a happy occurrence."

"How so?" Lisbon asked him, not seeing what was happy about what had happened to him.

Jane grinned. "Not only did I manage to get into your bed, but I also managed to have you buy or cook me dinner for a month." He grinned at her and laid back against his chair in complete self-satisfaction. "How many men can boast about that?"

Jane's good humor won her over and she smiled at his question, pushing the guilt deep within her only to be let out in future rare moments of self-pity. "Not many," she contended with an amused smile.

"I think we should carve a notch on your bedpost," Jane continued, grin still firmly plastered on his face.

"Don't push it."

~o~

The End.

~o~

**Author's Notes:** It was very difficult to write this epilogue. I felt the fic definitely needed one. I wanted to answer some of the open-ended questions in the fic, but at the same time I wanted to lay out the setting for the sequel. Now, you can all guess what it will be about.

I'm going to do something I never did before: I want your opinion about the sequel's format. Would you like another case-fic or a simple fic as I usually write them for the sequel?

Thank you everyone for supporting me and encouraging me with this fic. I am very happy it's finished and I'm quite excited for the sequel. I must warn you though that it will be written only in a couple of months. I'm going to concentrate on Amalgamation this month.

Thank you so, so, so, so much everyone for your support, reviews, favourites and story alerts! Thanks to dogeatdog who reviewed anonymously. It means so much that you all took the time to review every chapter. I am really touched by the overwhelming positive response.

Special thanks to Tromana for donating money to Help_Chile for this fic.


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